The secluded waters of Divers Bay are off the beaten path for cruise ships sailing the Pacific.
But when tourists come ashore to its remote village, in Vanuatu's far north, its people put on a show.
They share its traditional arts of weaving, fire making and sand drawing with cruise passengers.
Local chief David Silas said villagers performed traditional, or "kastom", dances and let tourists join in.
"[The visitors] give money to the people for what they showcase," Chief Silas, also the area's tourism association chairman, said.
"With that, people who have children can pay for their school fees."
But there are too few visits like this for the village, on the island of Ureparapara.
While only one cruise ship stopped at the island last year, Chief Silas would like to see four to five visits a year.
"It will help us and help development in the community," he said.
It's a situation on the minds of tourism authorities throughout the Pacific as the cruise industry resurges.
After coming to a halt during COVID-19 — and despite reputational damage from pandemic-era episodes such as the Ruby Princess outbreak — cruise liners have made a global comeback.
Concerns about overcrowding in Europe's most popular cruise stops have even prompted some cities there to ban cruise ships or tax their passengers.
But the Pacific has been grappling with a different set of questions about the industry.
While the ships have been away, the region's island nations have been thinking about how to get the most value from cruises when they return.
Now they're back, tourism bodies and observers say it's the Pacific's outer islands that stand to benefit most.
A 'remarkable' comeback
Far from shunning cruises after the pandemic, tourists are taking them in record numbers.
Cruise tourism surpassed pre-pandemic levels globally in 2023, reaching 31.7 million passengers, up nearly 7 per cent on 2019, according to the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA).
In the South Pacific, the industry peak body said the rebound was less strong but remained steady.
Last year, Pacific Island nations had nearly 680,000 cruise ship visitors, compared to about 750,000 in 2019.
James Cook University researcher in Pacific tourism Denis Tolkach still calls it a "remarkable" recovery after the pandemic.
"It seems all those negative stories were just erased from people's minds," he said.
CLIA's managing director in Australasia, Joel Katz, said the South Pacific was well-positioned for growth as holiday-makers from Australia — the world's fourth-largest source of cruise passengers — returned to the seas.
"Major nearby markets like Australia have already exceeded pre-pandemic levels of cruising," he said.
Among their main cruise destinations are Pacific Islands, especially Vanuatu, which received more than 260,000 cruise passengers in 2023 — about double compared to 2019.
Cruise visits have long been a lucrative source of extra income for businesses and bus drivers in the capital, Port Vila.
Now, tourism operators are hoping international visitors following the deadly magnitude-7.3 earthquake on December 17.
The Vanuatu Tourism Office's chief executive Adela Issachar Aru said cruise passengers will play an important role.
"Aviation tourism is important to grow our tourism recovery efforts, but definitely for cruise tourism, that's still an important element of our recovery efforts," she said.
"So our government and the support from the industry will still be [there] to support the recovery of the cruise sector also."
But speaking generally about Pacific cities with large numbers of air travellers, observers say the benefits of cruise visits have limits.
One reason is cruise passengers have shorter stays compared to tourists who arrive by plane, and sleep aboard their ships rather than at hotels and resorts.
"Their direct economic impact on the community is not that high," Dr Tolkach said.
Cruise ships also come with well-known costs — pressure on local services, overcrowding and environmental impacts including through carbon emissions and marine pollution.
[YouTube cruises]While the Pacific is too remote for many cruise itineraries around the world, Dr Tolkach said it shouldn't be looking to chase the enormous passenger numbers seen in the Caribbean or the Mediterranean.
He said the Pacific would be better off growing cruise tourism for islands harder to reach by plane.
"That might be offsetting some of the negative issues that have been long debated."
'Islands have their own stories'
Across the Pacific Ocean in Tonga's capital, Nuku'alofa, Amelia Taufapasa sells carefully-made handicrafts for a living.
Cruise passengers aren't exactly a regular sight at Talamahu Market, where she stocks necklaces, bags, fans and traditional woven Tongan waist mats.
But the tourists are a welcome source of income when they come.
"Cruise ships bring in more money to Tonga not only for me but also my fellow handicraft friends," Ms Taufapasa said.
"I wish we had two cruise ships every month, so that we can have sure income to help my family."
Tonga is a less common stop for the Pacific's cruises.
But more are arriving at its shores, and last year the country surpassed 2019 for cruise visitors, reaching more than 25,000.
As the numbers grow, Tonga's tourism authority is looking to spread the wealth beyond the main islands, Tongatapu and Vava'u, to more remote places like Ha'apai, Niua and 'Eua.
While they need more infrastructure like jetties for receiving cruise passengers, the islands have potential as cruise destinations, Tonga Tourism chief executive Viliami Takau said.
"All individual islands are unique and they have their own stories and history, which is something we'd also like to market," Mr Takau said.
It's a strategy that's taking shape across the region.
The Cruise Lines International Association says the Pacific's unspoiled beaches and cultural experiences leave it poised for growth in boutique and expedition cruises — which have fewer passengers, and go to more far-flung destinations.
Many of their passengers are looking for adventure travel, and want to interact with different cultures.
In Fiji, the tourism authority is also looking to spread cruise visits throughout its archipelago.
"Traditionally we've always heavily relied on the bigger-class vessels coming to the main port traffic areas," Tourism Fiji chief operating officer Leigh Howard said.
"Now we're really focusing on expedition vessels, which have the capacity to travel to some of the outer islands and to work with a lot of communities."
Mr Howard said the smaller vessels yielded more economic benefits for the outer islands and had a lower environmental impact than larger cruises.
Outer-island villages were also revitalising some of their traditional practices, such as wood carving and dances, as they prepared for the cruise visitors, he said.
"We've seen how this has really contributed to those communities in the outer regions," Mr Howard said.
The local industry is also aiming to extract more value from cruise tourism for Fiji's environment — including with a mass beach clean-up activity in 2024 involving 100 passengers from a Norwegian Cruise Line ship.
"For us, the underlying message was that this is an ongoing problem in developing countries in the South Pacific, where waste and recycling is an issue," Mr Howard said.
"We're bringing people here and getting them to understand the importance of leaving Fiji in a much better place and a lot of these cruise companies are starting to come on board with some of these."
More expedition cruise brands are visiting Fiji, including Disney Cruise Line and Scenic.
Mr Howard says expedition cruise company Silversea will base a vessel in Fiji for a month in 2025, and Tahiti-based Windstar Cruises could do something similar.
And it's possible an expedition cruise company will make Fiji a home port, he said.
"We really want to see more of those expedition vessels come to Fiji. That's where I see the real big value, because it allows [visitors to] interact with those communities and provide value to them."
It's a trend that could benefit remote islands elsewhere in the Pacific.
Back in Vanuatu, Chief Silas hopes to see another cruise ship stop in Divers Bay soon.
"It's a beautiful harbour and more beautiful during good weather," he said.
There's only been one downside for the tourists, Chief Silas said.
"They love swimming in the bay but the time is too short."
With additional reporting by .
